A recent opinion from the North Carolina Court of Appeals addresses some common borrower defenses within the context of foreclosure and statute of frauds issues: compromise and settlement, accord and satisfaction, the...more

On March 10, 2015, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit held that the U.S. Corps of Engineers (Corps) had lawfully denied a permit to an applicant seeking to fill 4.8 acres of wetlands in order to build...more

On March 20, 2015, the Interior Department announced the issuance of a final rule regulating hydraulic fracturing on Federal and American Indian lands. The rule was initially proposed by the Bureau of Land Management (“BLM”)...more

On February 25, 2015, Suzanne Amaducci-Adams moderated the first event in the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce’s three-part series, Transforming Miami: The Game Changers Series. With intimate knowledge of Bilzin Sumberg’s...more

On Monday March 2, the California Supreme Court handed down a decision allowing a Berkeley home builder to use an exemption from detailed environmental assessment under the California Environmental Quality Act (“CEQA”) in its...more

On February 25, 2015, the Quebec Minister of Sustainable Development, Environment and the Fight against Climate Change David Heurtel, announced a proposal to modernize the current environmental authorization regime provided...more

The Electronic Communications Code (“Code”) provides statutory rights to telecommunications operators to install and maintain electrical communications apparatus in, over or under land. The principle of the Code is that no...more

Beginning on October 6, 2015, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will require prospective purchasers of real estate to use the new ASTM E1527-13 Phase I Environmental Assessment (Phase I) standard (2013...more

Public projects take years of planning and environmental review usually involving outreach to neighboring property owners and other stakeholders. During this process, potential right of way impacts are identified and property...more

More than five years after starting in state court before later restarting in federal court, a federal court jury in Missouri has issued a major verdict in litigation concerning the use of electric utility easements for...more

Portending what is likely to be a significant legislative session for local government powers and real property rights in North Carolina, the first "substantial" bill introduced in the 2015-2016 session of the North Carolina...more

Capping a year-long partnership between the City of Los Angeles and Dr. Lucy Jones, a well-known seismologist with the United States Geological Survey, Mayor Eric Garcetti released “Resilience by Design” last week, a plan...more

The Miami-Dade County Commission adopted Ordinance 14-122, effective December 12, 2014, making several modifications to the County's Road Impact Fee schedule. A notable change is that the timing of the Road Impact Fee Present...more

Starting in January 2015, the City will not issue demolition permits for structures more than 45 years old until the applicant has conspicuously posted a demolition notice on the property, sent letters to abutting neighbors...more

Let’s say you and 20 other drivers are exceeding the speed limit and the police give you, but no one else, a speeding ticket. Analyzing your fate requires using a legal concept called “selective enforcement.” This principle...more

Members of New Jersey’s development community are wondering: “Is the permit extension party over?” For the last six years, approved development projects have received the protection of the New Jersey Permit Extension Act...more

Whether it’s for condos, office buildings or industrial properties, raw land is becoming more and more scarce in Miami. That means land remediation is becoming a bigger issue. It also means developers have to face new...more

As my colleague Missy Foster recently reported, the deadline for compliance with California’s new Industrial Storm Water permit (2014 Permit) is fast approaching. There is a lot to learn about the 2014 Permit before it takes...more

The Illinois Property Tax Appeal Board (PTAB) recently issued a decision finding that the clubhouse, parking lot, swimming pool, and tennis courts at a golf club are not entitled to favorable treatment as open space. The...more

The new markets tax credit (‘‘NMTC’’) was added to the Internal Revenue Code as §45D2 by the Community Renewal Tax Relief Act of 2000.3 Initially the program was to provide allocations of the tax credit through 2007, but has...more

The recent Napa earthquake caused significant damage to buildings in the historic downtown areas of the cities of Napa and Vallejo, and brought to the fore the limited extent to which California law requires seismic safety...more